Rolling Stone’s 20 Best Graduation Songs of the Past 25 Years
This week marks what may forever be remembered by some students as the most anticlimactic senior year and graduation celebration ever.
With schools closed prematurely due to COVID-19, high school and college graduates across the country are trading the hat and gown for their pajamas and slippers, the graduation stage for another trip to the snack closet and the graduation anthem for the latest cat video on Youtube.
With no "Pomp and Circumstance" to signify the ending of one academic season and beginning of another, Rolling Stone has compiled its own list of the best graduation songs of the past 25 years. These songs -- according to Rolling Stone -- "have captured the proper feelings of pride, nostalgia, excitement and sadness that accompany such a rite of passage" as graduating. In no particular order, here they are:
1. "The Climb", Miley Cyrus, 2009
2. "Photograph", Nickelback, 2005
3. "Moment 4 Life", Nicki Minaj, 2010
4. "Sing", My Chemical Romance, 2010
5. "All My Friends", LCD Soundsystem, 2007
6. "See You Again", Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth, 2015
7. "How Far We've Come", Matchbox 20, 2007
8. "I Hope You Dance", Lee Ann Womack, 2000
9. "My Last Semester", The Wonder Years, 2010
10. "Am I Wrong", Nico & Vinz, 2013
11. "I Can", Nas, 2003
12. "Unwritten", Natasha Bedingfield, 2004
13. "Breakaway", Kelly Clarkson, 2004
14. "Graduation (Friends Forever)", Vitamin C, 2000
15. "Started from the Bottom", Drake, 2013
16. "I Will Remember You", Sarah McLachlan, 1995
17. "Everybody's Free (to Wear Sunscreen)", Baz Luhrmann, 1998
18. "Firework", Katy Perry, 2010
19. "We Are Young", Fun featuring Janelle Monáe, 2011
20. "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)", Green Day, 1997
What song accompanied your graduation or best encapsulated your final year of school?
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